Thirty thousand years have passed since Kaolin's body was put to rest in the icy currents of the Lingjiang River, preserved by celestial energy and a destiny too great to simply be wasted. During this macabre time shrouded in bloodshed, the Demon Army swept across Shenzhou like a merciless dagger, consuming all in their path, so that only the floating city of Huan-Yue stood still as a resistance against the dark forces at play.
Now, in the lofty throne hall of the Demon God's palace, which was a magnificent structure suspended in the heavens, several miles above Mingxu and restored to its former glory with untold charms and demonic wards, Xiyan bowed low to pay her respects as the Demon God strode past her. Her brother and Mo Ren mirrored her.
The Demon God's consuming presence, even in this place that bridged earth and sky, was thick with savage authority and utter cruelty. Innocent blood stained his hands, and his thirst for power only grew deeper with each passing year. Behind him, following closely like his shadow, was Baihu Mo, who cast her a look of sheer hatred, but she feigned ignorance and kept her head low.
"How goes your search, Xiyan?" the Demon God said.
"We're still looking, My lord," Xiyan answered, steady despite the gnawing fear clutching at her heart. "But it seems…"
The Demon God paused mid-step, hearing her hesitate, and turning to take a proper look at her, although she kept her head low and did not dare to look up.
"What is it?"
Xiyan swallowed, then forced the words out. "It seems Jinlian is hiding him somewhere the Demon Army cannot reach, a place with pure energy. I fear—"
A sudden, chilling laughter burst from the Demon God, deep and resonant, halting her mid-thought. The unexpected sound startled her, and she exchanged a brief, anxious glance with Rongjie, who grasped her hand firmly as a silent promise of protection. Lowering her gaze once more, eyes fixed on the stone floor, she dared not meet his piercing stare as the Demon God now slowly came into view and stopped just inches away.
"Do you know why I have not taken your life yet, Xiyan?"
Her voice trembled, but she answered honestly. "I dare not speculate, My lord, all I know is that you know the best."
The Demon God's eyes narrowed, savouring her words before violently lifting her chin so their eyes locked. "Dare not speculate?" he repeated. "You lie to me again, and I will peel that face of yours off – bit by bit! Do you understand?"
Her knees hit the cold floor as she dropped, the weight of his threat crushing her. "Yes, I understand."
Satisfied, the Demon God returned to his throne and addressed the white tiger devil this time.
"Baihu Mo, how close are we to taking Huan-Yue?"
"Almost," Baihu Mo reported. "The Jinlian Guards fight with relentless will and courage, but they cannot last, not without divine intervention."
Xiyan's eyes lifted, and in the shadowed corners of the throne hall, her mind drifted involuntarily to Kaolin, the man who had sacrificed his destiny, forsaking godhood to save Immortal Lord Zhenhai, and then vanished without a trace. Thirty thousand years of relentless searching had yielded only silence, yet she refused to give up. Sooner or later, she would find him, even if it took her another thirty thousand years.
Straightening, she forced a smile and addressed the Demon God.
"My lord, the day draws near. May I take my leave?"
The Demon God waved her off with a dismissive gesture. And as the great doors swung open, Xiyan stepped out onto a platform suspended in the void. Below stretched the demon-infested palace, like a bleeding scar on the landscape, and beyond that, the vast expanse of the night sky stretched endlessly, revealing the hauntingly beautiful velvety sky surrounded by distant stars far away from the darkness of this place.
Her hands folded behind her back, her gaze followed the drifting clouds that curled and danced with the breath of the heavens. Then, far off, through a fleeting parting of the mist, the floating city of Huan-Yue revealed itself like a radiant jewel amidst the backdrop of a world blanketed in suffocating darkness, resisting its fate despite its protective arrays growing weaker by the second.
Her long hair, tied neatly in a ponytail, danced lightly in the high winds, and her red and black robes flowed like flames flickering against the endless dark. Mo Ren appeared silently at her side right then and snapped her out of her thoughts: "What weighs your mind?"
Xiyan pointed towards the cloud-hidden city.
"I wonder if he's there somewhere… hiding."
Mo Ren's voice dropped. "Isn't it time you gave up? Both you and—"
She cut him off with a bittersweet smile, eyes sparkling with stubborn faith. "He's not dead. If this is why you're saying this."
"Xiyan…"
Without another word, she surged into the skies, her movements as fluid as water as she crossed the border of Mingxu, soaring towards the Qhinshao Forest on the opposite side of Shenzhou, where the blades of grass swayed subtly to the cadence of the moaning wind after a deep slumber of thousands of years, sprouting and turning green.
Her cultivation advanced steadily through the passage of time, the energy of the forest blending with her own in a dance of intertwining qi as she landed softly. Memories of Kaolin stirred with each breath, each movement as she gathered all her energy and honed her skills: how he had saved her life, recognised her destiny as the next Demon God, yet never treated her differently, never betrayed her trust. But these ruminations did not last too long.
Suddenly, the black dragon Veyrûn, once chained to the tower of Nivarra, soared into view. It had been a long time since she had seen the majestic beast. But what was it doing here? She leapt upwards to grasp its brilliant scales, desperate to halt its swift flight beyond Shenzhou's borders, to lands forbidden since the great war between the Gods and Demons ended in catastrophe on the outskirts of Mount Qixian.
But the dragon fought fiercely, thrashing her off balance time and again without respite. Then, with a violent surge, it bucked harder than before, and Xiyan's grip slipped. Plunging through layer after layer of fast-moving clouds, she fell, helpless and tumbling, towards the cold embrace of the Lingjiang River below.
The icy water swallowed her whole, dragging her deeper and deeper into its abyssal depths. Her lungs burned from the lack of air, her vision blurred, and the cold pressed into her bones as death beckoned her closer for each second that passed. But as she sank, a faint glow emerged from the depths, and her fumbling hands, trying to hold onto life, brushed against something in that suffocating darkness. But before she could grasp what she had caught or clear her hazy vision, she passed out.
In that instant, as if by magic, her qi transferred itself like a fragile lifeline to the one who stirred after thousands of years of deadly slumber. Master Kaolin. And as his eyes snapped open with her touch, he felt the faint pulse of her life entwined with his own through the transfer of energies.
Yet, for a while, he did nothing but observe, even as the transfer ended and her grip on him slipped, so that she sank deeper and deeper into the depths with her hand still outstretched towards him in a silent plea for help. But not out of cruelty, not even on purpose. Only when his mind cleared and his surroundings came back into focus did he recognise her, and without fully understanding why, he dived into the depths too and seized her arm, pulling her up through the water's crushing pressure.
Breaking the surface, he set her down on the riverbank, checking her shallow pulse. With a hand glowing with newfound power, he cleared the icy water from her lungs. But the healing energy pouring from his hand was a different kind of energy, one golden and warm, and not the kind he was used to.
This unfamiliar energy differed vastly from what he once mastered, indeed. It was celestial, not forged with the Demonic or Forbidden Arts he had once wielded. But this was the least of his concerns as he looked around the unknown landscape, and his confusion only grew. What was this place? Why was he here?
He then returned his gaze to Xiyan, noticing the emblem of the Demon Army on her dark and crimson attire, and the frown on his brow deepened at once. She had joined hands with the Demon God. But why? No, why would she? Alarmed, sensing that something wasn't quite as it should be, he placed a hand over her forehead, reading her qi. When he was done, he couldn't help but grimace. She hadn't reached a breakthrough in her cultivation since the last time he had seen her. How was that even possible, given her destiny? It made little sense!
"Kaolin!"
Suddenly, Wei Lan rushed forwards and pulled Kaolin into a tight embrace, unaware of Xiyan's fragile form nearby. Even as Kaolin tried to pull away, Wei Lan wouldn't let go. It was at this time that another voice broke through the silence, and Kaolin looked in the direction of the voice, where Immortal Lord Zhenhai stood with a wide smile on his face, and despite his confusion just moments earlier, Kaolin returned this smile, albeit faintly.
"I'm happy to see you again, Master Kaolin."
"Where is this place?"
"This… is the Lingjiang River," Zhenhai said, and when he noticed Kaolin's sudden shift in expression, added. "I know this is not what you expected, neither did I. But when you collapsed that day to save my life, thinking I'm your long-lost wife, bringing you here as a token of my gratitude was the only reasonable thing to do."
"Reasonable? You should've just let me—"
"Hey, what's she doing here?"
Wei Lan abruptly released his grip around Kaolin, seeing red, as he quickly rushed towards the immobile Xiyan, still lying unconscious at the edge of the river. But before he could get close enough to her, Kaolin cut in front of him and held him back.
"What are you even trying to do?"
Wei Lan snapped. "Making sure she stays away!"
Kaolin, "Making sure she stays away? From what? Me?"
Kaolin stopped him again as he tried to brush past him. "Kaolin, you don't understand!" he said. "That girl, she's been looking for you all over! If she sees you're here—"
"She probably already knows," Kaolin said. "She's the one who awakened me."
Wei Lan stopped trying to get past him, his eyes narrowing slightly. It was easy to tell that what he had just said did not make any sense to him whatsoever. And in that flustered state, he now pointed fingers at her.
"S-She awakened you? How!? When both His Highness and I tried everything and failed, how could she be the one who awakened you!?"
Kaolin locked eyes with Zhenhai then, both of them sharing a knowing smile before he addressed the Immortal. "Tell me, Your Highness, did this guy cause you a lot of trouble while I was… away?"
"If we take the amount of time he insisted we bring you out of the river, then, well, maybe only slightly."
"Woah! You two…!" Wei Lan exclaimed in disbelief, directing his accusing finger at them this time, before turning his attention fully to the Immortal. "When have I ever done that, Your Highness?" He then moved closer to the Immortal, thinking he was whispering, although Kaolin could still hear it loud and clear. "Besides, didn't you say this would be between us? Why are you snitching on me?"
Kaolin shared another hearty smile with Zhenhai, as Wei Lan spun around the Immortal with pleading eyes, repeating why the Immortal was snitching on him to Kaolin like a kid who had just been found out doing something naughty and kept insisting on knowing why.
But the merry moment did not last. Kaolin's expression hardened once more as his eyes fell on Xiyan and then back to Immortal Lord Zhenhai, as they now both actively ignored Wei Lan whining in the background, who too fell silent as the conversation deepened.
"How long have I been here?"
"Thirty thousand years," said Zhenhai.
Kaolin repeated the words slowly, disbelief twisting his lips. Then he raised a hand, summoning a radiant glow unlike anything he had wielded before, that pure, divine energy that shimmered bright yet felt foreign.
"What… has happened to me?" he murmured. "This energy, it's different. I am… different."
Zhenhai, "Seems like my prayers were heard, Master Kaolin."
"Prayers?"
Wei Lan glanced at the Immortal as he said this, recalling a distant memory, back when Zhenhai had prayed at the riverbank all those years ago.
"I prayed to the heavens for you," Zhenhai said, "for a second chance. One final chance to do what is right."
Kaolin's lips curled into a bitter smirk. "Who said I needed a second chance? That I—"
"Shenzhou needs a god now more than ever," Zhenhai interrupted. "The Demons rage unchecked, slaying everything in their path without batting an eye. Without you, Huan-Yue is bound to fall."
Kaolin staggered back, a grimace of disbelief and amusement spreading across his face. He glanced at Immortal Lord Zhenhai, the one whose life he had bargained for in return for Shenzhou's ruin, at a loss for words, hearing these things from the Immortal out of all people.
"I know why you gave up your godhood," Zhenhai continued, "but if you let this world fall apart and shatter, won't you let her down a second time?"
Kaolin laughed upon hearing these words, then, as the gravity of this realisation hit him, he sharply turned on Wei Lan, seeing red. "Did you tell him? Huh? Did you tell him about Yue'er?"
"Master Kaolin!" Zhenhai stood between them as Kaolin was about to grab hold of Wei Lan, who quickly hid behind the Immortal's white robes. "I… I figured it out on my own! Wei Lan didn't say a word!"
Kaolin couldn't let his burning eyes off Wei Lan, not immediately, but once he relaxed, his eyes instinctively drifted to Xiyan and those red-and-black robes she wore with the Demon Army's emblem on, and his voice softened, almost with a hint of dejection in it.
"She's joined the Demons, hasn't she?"
Wei Lan retreated from his hiding spot behind the Immortal, standing tall, as he replied. "She has. That's why I was telling you to be careful! In fact, why don't we just kill her and then—"
"Bring her back. We can't let the Demon God know she's gone."
Wei Lan blinked, confused. "Did you… hear what I said? Kaolin? She's conspired with the Demons! We can't just—"
"Just do as I say."
Wei Lan looked on, at a loss for words for a brief moment, before finally crouching and picking Xiyan's still body off the river's edge. And as he prepared to vanish into the sky, Kaolin stopped him.
"Hang on."
Moving closer, he placed his hand briefly on Xiyan's forehead, activating her dragon qi. Then, stepping back, he gave Wei Lan the signal to leave. When they were gone, Zhenhai approached, his voice soft yet probing.
"Why did you erase her memories of you?"
Kaolin shut his eyes, unwilling to answer.
"Kaolin?" Zhenhai pressed on. "I'm asking you something."
"To make it easier…"
"For whom? For her… or yourself?"
Kaolin met his gaze briefly before once again shifting his focus back to the sky ahead, his eyes fixed on the two figures gradually disappearing out of view beyond the snow-capped mountains.
"Does it matter?"
Hearing this, Zhenhai dropped his head slightly, beaming widely, before he, too, watched Wei Lan and Xiyan merge with the welkin. And when they were finally all alone, he asked what he now realised Kaolin too must be thinking then and there, but wouldn't address for some reason.
"What are you thinking of doing now?"
Kaolin drew a deep breath, not in the mood to chat, yet he knew the Immortal would not let him off the hook so easily.
"Are you asking as the leader of the Jinlian Guards and the heir of the Jinlian Sect, or as Zhenhai?"
"Both."
To this, Kaolin finally shifted his gaze away from the sky and turned to fully face the Immortal. There was a hint of annoyance in his voice now.
"How are those two the same?"
"Well, since I'm both a leader trying to save his people and Immortal Lord Zhenhai, as you know me, how can they possibly be two different things?"
Kaolin shook his head at these remarks, refusing to entertain the Immortal any further. "In either case, I have nothing to say."
"Nothing to say? Kaolin, if the heavens did not consider you worthy of godhood, then why would they—"
"Godhood?" He raised his voice, worked up and speaking through gritted teeth, each harrowing word a reflection of his inner torment and conflicting emotions reaching their peak. "I thought I settled that matter when I saved you! So, why are you still—"
He stopped mid-sentence and looked away, trying to calm his nerves. He had not meant to raise his voice at the Immortal. After all, Zhenhai was not and would not be the only one harbouring such thoughts once word spread about his resurrection. But why, whenever he tried hard to take his destiny into his own hands, that he ended up returning to the very beginning of his never-ending tribulations?
"I know this is hard to accept. But what you're thinking of doing, must you go through with it?"
Kaolin glanced at Zhenhai as he said this, and his eyes narrowed, feigning ignorance, even though he knew what Zhenhai was trying to say. "I don't know what you're talking about, and even if I knew, what I choose to do, or not do, is no concern of yours."
"I know why you erased Xiyan's memories of you. But must you go to such lengths to defy your destiny, not once, but twice? Don't you fear the repercussions?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, neither do I want to." Kaolin turned fully to face the Immortal this time, his patience wearing thin, refusing to waver. "So, Your Highness, don't go around telling nonsense, especially to that fool Wei Lan. That's… that's all I ask of you."
"Then you shall have what you asked for. But as someone who has owned his life to you more times than he should, I wish you would just…" Zhenhai paused for a second to clear his thoughts. "Never mind. Don't worry. I won't say anything. But should you ever change your mind—"
"I won't."
"Then so be it," Zhenhai paused briefly before carrying on, the tone of his voice growing firmer at once and more resolute, as if a sudden thought crossed his mind and stirred something within him. "But, then know that you must bear the consequences of this decision! With the demons' arrival have come not only destruction and bloodshed, but also hunger, grief, and pain. And you may be our only hope for salvation, the only one who can stop this madness from spreading any further."
"What are you trying to say?"
"The people's suffering doesn't move you, Kaolin? Don't you want to be their hope, the beacon of light that helps the common people navigate the darkness and out into the light? To stand at the bridge between good and evil, even if it means bowing to the will of the heavens?"
"Once I achieve my goal, there will be no reason for a god to exist! By then, even without someone like me, the people of Shenzhou will thrive for many years to come!" he snapped. "Why must I become their beacon when I can cut this madness off at its root, rather than wear the mask of a god!?"
To this, Zhenhai said nothing and remained hushed, as did Kaolin. They had both raised their voices at each other to get their points through, each given valid reasons as to why or why he should not follow the path carved by the ancient Gods and Goddesses.
But even though Kaolin was not quite in his right mind, his chest rising and falling rapidly, Zhenhai's words still managed to get under his skin – repeating in a haunting loop in his drumming head. Before he knew it, he found himself in the sky, witnessing the destruction left in the wake of the Demons' unprovoked attacks, and the grief that followed and spread like wildfire all across Shenzhou as a consequence of his selfish actions.